Devastating floods and weather-related events are happening more and more often in Quebec and opposition parties say the Coalition Avenier Québec (CAQ) government isn’t doing enough to help municipalities manage.
Québec solidaire wants the government to give municipalities more money to fight and to adapt to climate change.
But the government says the demands make no sense.
“Quebec’s budget is $3 billion a year. Asking for $2 billion a year to fight climate change is not realistic,” said Finance Minister Eric Girard.
The $2 billion amount was drawn from a study Ouranos, a consortium of researchers, helped conduct for the Union of Quebec Municipalities (UMQ).
Ouranos researcher Ursule Boyer-Villemaire says events like the devastating floods in the Charlevoix region are a reminder of how fragile our current infrastructure is, adding that investing in climate change adaptation can not only increase quality of life and services for people, it can save lives.
“Some ways and provincial roads are the only lifeline with the rest of the country. So if somebody has a heart attack right now and is isolated it will be much more costly to bring this person to a hospital,” Boyer-Villemaire explained.
Touring the battered Charlevoix region Wednesday, Quebec Premier François Legault says he will be announcing more funding for climate change solutions.
At the National Assembly, critics say Legault’s efforts to support municipalities dealing with natural disasters aren’t enough.
“I hope he understands that there needs to be a dialogue with the cities about their needs and about the need to react more quickly to prevent these things going forward,” said Quebec Liberal party MNA André Fortin.
Québec solidaire’s Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois proposes the government stop putting money towards the province’s debt and invest in climate change instead.
“Because the debt that is not under control is the climate debt. The public debt is under control,” he said.
The premier and the UMQ will be meeting on Friday and one of the main topics of discussion is increasing funding so they can better prepare for natural disasters.